Telecom Plus FY profits seen in line with expectations

Utility supplier Telecom Plus said on Thursday that full-year profits were expected to be in line with expectations, despite additional operating costs during the second half as the group attempted to position itself for "an extended period of rapid organic growth".

Telecom Plus stated annual customer numbers increased by 71,269 to 728,680, while core service numbers grew by 191,112 to 2.26m, representing growth of 10.8% and 9.3%, respectively.

The FTSE 250-listed firm, which highlighted that all of its growth was achieved organically and predominantly during the second half, also highlighted that consensus estimates for the year ended 31 March were for adjusted pre-tax profits of £59.6m.

Energy churn fell to 0.25% per month during the second half following the end of a long-running and unsustainable price war in September.

Telecom Plus also noted that most other major broadband suppliers imposed automatic CPI-linked price rises of nearly 10% to their customers during the period but said it had instead opted to launch a range of highly competitive introductory broadband tariffs from mid-February, which led to a significant uplift in the proportion of new customers taking the service.

As of 0850 BST, Telecom Plus shares were up 3.90% at 1,589.64p.